134 



THE AMERICAN MONTHLY 



[Jiiiy, 



subdivide, and there is reason to 

 think that under certain conditions 

 the division and infinite multiplica- 

 tion of the animate particles may 

 continue for a considerable time, 

 none of them attaining their fully de- 

 veloped form or dimensions. In 

 higher forms of life, premature divi- 

 sion of a living mass before it has 

 grown for a proper time and reached 

 a certain size, is very detrimental, 

 and in many cases disastrous ; for it 

 is associated with degradation or even 

 complete loss of formative, construc- 

 tive, and developmental power. In 

 some cases, by the rapid multiplica- 

 tion and division of the particles, the 

 well-being of the whole organism is 

 jeopardized, and death may be oc- 

 casioned by the changes brought 

 about by great increase and rapid 

 growth and multiplication of certain 

 particles of living matter belonging 

 to the blood or to some of the tissues. 



When a portion of a mass of living 

 matter moves away from the rest, the 

 moving portion invariably presents 

 a convex surface, of which the por- 

 tion in the exact centre is of course 

 in advance of the rest and is the 

 point towards which the movement 

 of adjacent portions tends. It al- 

 most seems as if one minute portion 

 had moved away from the rest and 

 had dragged with it neighboring por- 

 tions, the power of the particles con- 

 stituting which was not strong enough 

 to act in opposition to it or to resist 

 its influence. These seem to yield 

 and follow the one or few particles 

 in which the movement is strongest, 

 and which seem to act the part of 

 leader. It may be that certain par- 

 ticles here and there, having attained 

 a larger size, or from being more ac- 

 tive than the rest, move forward and 

 determine the direction which is to 

 be taken by those near. As far as 

 can be seen, multitudes of living par- 

 ticles stream in one direction, the 

 greater number being either carried 

 along by the very few, or irrisistibly 

 drawn onwards by them. * * * 



I dare say that for some time to 



come it will be most difficult to get 

 a hearing for any views not in accord 

 with the materialist tendencies of 

 what is miscalled the science of our 

 time. Thought is to be crushed, and 

 any speculations are to be condemned 

 which do not happen to favor the ar- 

 bitrary dogmas of the purely physical 

 school. But no doubt these attempts, 

 like preceding ones of the same order, 

 made at different periods of history, 

 — although they may succeed for a 

 time, and by them people may be 

 driven away from the truth — will ere 

 long be given up. They may be 

 safely left to the gradual process of 

 disintegration and ultimate dissipa- 

 tion by which these and such-like 

 fancies of physical ingenuity will be 

 disposed of. As I have shown else- 

 where, whenever tissue and other 

 matters peculiar to living beings are 

 to be formed, living matter under- 

 goes change. In fact, the act of 

 forming these things corresponds with 



the cessation of life in the particles. 

 ********** 



If now I permit myself to pass be- 

 yond the point to which I have been 

 led by actual observation, — if I try 

 to advance beyond the present mi- 

 croscopic limit, travelling as it were 

 upon the same lines as when observ- 

 ing within it, and try to realize the 

 phenomena which occur during the 

 early period of development of some 

 comparatively simple vegetable tis- 

 sue, a leaf for example, — I think the 

 following description will not be far 

 from the truth : A mass of living 

 matter, endowed with special powers 

 working under certain definite con- 

 ditions, takes up certain materials and 

 increases in size thereby. Imparting to 

 the new matter its powers, unweak- 

 ened in force, as it grows, it soon di- 

 vides into several portions, each of 

 which in like manner grows and 

 divides. The arrangement of the 

 several masses, though fixed within 

 certain limits, is determined not by 

 any forces, powers, attractions or re- 

 pulsions acting upon all of them, but 

 simply by the rate of growth of each, 



